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Looking for a quiet place to walk-n-talk on the phone with my BFF Jenni, and then take Mr. K on a walk, I arrived at Rockford Park in Wilmington only to find a full-blown carnival in swing on a Thursday morning.
I showed my age by grumbling “aren’t these kids supposed to be in school?”
Fortunately it was a beautiful day and I still got in my walk. The stone water tower is 100 years old.
A Futuro House is a UFO shaped home designed in the 1960s to be a “portable ski chalet.” And who doesn’t need one of those? Somehow — and honestly, I have no idea how — the idea never took off.
There are about 60 Futuro Houses scattered around the U.S., and this one sits on the edge of Eagle-Crest Hudson Airport in Milton.
Supposedly someone actually rents it part-time, just for the fun of it, which I would totally do!
In spite of the name, Slaughter Beach (named after the town) was peaceful and lovely. But we weren’t there for peace and calm, we were on the hunt for spawning horseshoe crabs! You need to time it right with tides and new or full moons; while we were close to a new moon and saw lots of evidence of horseshoe crabs (mostly the shells of those who didn’t make it), we never saw any crabs make it onto the beach in the throes of passion. We did see some in the water briefly, but not enough that I’m checking this off the list.
We will have to try again someday. Neither of this had “see mating horseshoe crabs” on our bucket list, but now that I know, I want to see it!
This observation tower in Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, DE, was completed in 1942 to help protect our shores during WW II. It was part of a system of towers and bunkers built on Cape Henlopen as part of a military installation called Fort Miles. There are a number of maintained military barracks and other buildings in the park’s historic area, along with a museum built into one of the bunkers.
The tower is 75 feet tall, and of course Doug wanted to climb it, so climb it we did.
I was a bit dubious of the claim, but the Milton town government website says that the town changed its name from “Head of Broadkiln” in 1807 to Milton, to honor the English poet John Milton, he of the famed Paradise Lost.
The statue of John Milton in town is ritually dressed in seasonal garb.
Back in the day, I used to go see regional band Love Seed Mama Jump quite regularly. They mostly played rock covers but also had some fun original songs, and always provided for what I called a “guaranteed good time.” I introduced Doug to them, but shortly after that we moved from Pennsylvania, never to see Love Seed again.
But! 20 years later, they happen to be playing while we were at the Delaware shore, so off we went to Rehobeth Beach to relive our glory days. And, since we are both 20 years older, we left at the first intermission to go home to bed.
This is the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes, DE. It is a reproduction of a 17th-Century Dutch style building that was erected to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the first colony in Delaware. A small group of Dutch colonists settled in the area in 1631, nut disappeared under questionable circumstances not long after.
Inside is a eclectic collection of local historical artifacts, along with a Fiji (or “Feegee”) mermaid — a manmade 19th century object made by grafting the torso of a monkey to the tail of a fish, thus creating a mummified mermaid (or merman).
Fiji mermaids were popular sideshow attractions — P.T. Barnum exhibited one in his museum in New York City in 1842. The Zwaanendael’s specimen was made in China and loaned to the museum by a local couple. After their death, the couple’s heirs arranged to sell the item to the museum (because, let’s face it, who wants a Fiji mermaid hanging around the house?). It’s so grotesque that I am not going to include a picture of it here, but you can easily find an image on the Internet if you are curious enough.
